Can you believe we are already paying our first month subs, or in my case 6 months? Time really did get sucked into Rift!

It has been a month filed with many ups and very few downs, although the security issue kind of made up for there being very few downs. Despite it affecting less then 1% of accounts, it has been an issue that has overshadowed a near perfect launch.

So, Trion and Rift’s 1st month. It’s been an interesting one, let’s see what has happened!(continue reading…)

Shyntyrr has pretty much covered everything you could want to know about Security and I don’t want to drone on about the same subject but now that the Coin Lock has been implemented I wanted to cover that and impact.

The Issue

Masses of players have been affected by the hacking of accounts — it is in no doubt an epidemic of epic proportions. No game has seen this level of “hackery” (made up word) ever. This is both a good and very bad thing. Well, ok, it’s only a very bad thing. However, it is interesting to see so much interest in the game, isn’t it?

The Resolution…?

The levels in Rift are staggering and in order to stem the tide of “hackery” (I am going to keep using it, get used to it!) Trion has implemented the Coin Lock system — a system that will basically lock down some functionality of your account if it is accessed from an IP address outside your normal range.

What does this mean?

Well it means that if you are hacked by a little evil doer from somewhere else in the world, they cannot sell your stuff or mess with the Auction House… but they can level for you! It does create a small amount of inconvenience if, say, you go to a mate’s house or play away from home — the game that is — but is a little inconvenience a problem? Clearly the answer is no.

This week has been a quite a frantic one in RIFT, but our troubles have finally started to lessen. With Trion’s introduction of Coin Lock, we can breathe — but not necessarily easily.

First of all, it’s important to note that Coin Lock doesn’t prevent unauthorized access to your account. Even with it in place, Trion is still asking us to watch out for the security of our accounts: should you mysteriously receive a Coin Lock email for no apparent reason, don’t forget to let Trion know that you’re having security issues!

In a way, Coin Lock is like a burglar alarm. You might have a little notice on your window saying that an alarm will sound if someone breaks in, but it doesn’t actually keep anyone from breaking in — they can, and will still try, to break in — but at least you’ll be able to know when they do.

As long as we are careful, Coin Lock can be a great tool in keeping your account more secure. When logging in from a unknown location, your hacker will discover that he can’t do much — except spam chat and level you. While the chat spam wouldn’t do much other than making all your friends hate you and having half the shard ignore you, the leveling might actually help you out in the long run!

We’d like to introduce our second new writer to The Rift! Arianne is new to Rift and decided to play Rift after being surrounded by a bright shiny light a few times! Leveled Up! Go ahead and let her know what you think in the comments! If you’re interested in helping out, send an email to riftpodcast@gmail.com!

For our last Episode Scott Hartsman and Cindy ‘Abigale’ Bowens join us to talk a bit about the game from back when no one knew about it, through to today. We also reminisce about the podcast origins and touch on some pertinent subjects for the future of the game:

The path of Rift and the Podcast

Guild Banks

Server Transfers coming soon

Dungeon Finder tweaking

Not necessarily the end, just a goodbye

Haha Rapture

We’d like to thank everyone for all their support. Each and Every person at Trion who helped us make this podcast, every fan who ever was and whoever downloaded and listened. Thank you for being a part of this journey.

Thank you to Typefrag.com for their sponsorship – if you want a quality ventrilo server, look no further. These guys are great.

Thank you to Doghouse Systems for their support – they have amazing systems – head over and take a look.